ECTS - - PhD in Software Engineering
The Software Engineering Ph.D program has been established in the Spring semester of the 2014-15 academic year. The program aims to fulfill the sectoral and societal requirements which are summarized below:
- Sectoral requirements: As software systems become more prevalent nationally and globally, the need for qualified software engineers has grown steadily. The aim of Software Engineering is to design and develop high-quality, reliable, high-performance software which fulfills specific requirements, is easy to use, operate and maintain that can be easily integrated to other systems, and is appealing to the end-users. The software that has been developed by software engineers who have a command of the software engineering processes will lead to developments in economic, societal, technological and scientific areas.
- Societal needs: The field of Software Engineering is concerned with the creation and analysis of the complex software systems that underlie modern society. Research in Software Engineering targets software artifacts and the people that create them. The field is large, and it encompasses engineering design research, i.e. the creation of new software artifacts with some desirable properties, as well as empirical research, i.e. the study of the effects that software development tools and methods have in the context of software development teams. Essentially, all aspects of the Software Engineering industry demand a new more educated, more versatile workforce.
- The profile of PhD graduates and sector expectations: By enrolling in the PhD program, students have the opportunity to prepare themselves for faculty positions in software engineering, for research positions in industrial laboratories, and for leadership positions in development. Those graduates who choose a career in education are distinguished by their genuine understanding of software design and development issues. Graduates who become industrial developers understand not only academic research issues but also engineering constraints that arise from public policy, economic, regulatory, and market issues. And graduates who become senior software system developers have a distinctive perspective that addresses specific problems in the context of the principles and results of the field. In addition to the talent and research skills that allow graduates to fill these industry needs, these PhDs will also understand the practical issues of software design and development from requirements acquisition through maintenance. They are prepared to enter research or advanced development positions in application areas, distributed networks, embedded/critical systems, and other specialties as well as conventional software system development. Furthermore, graduates’ experience with managing projects and their overall general knowledge of the software industry make them excellent candidates for industry consulting positions.